Danni Wyatt-Hodge has backed her close friend and opening partner, Sophia Dunkley, to land the big score she needs to go into the T20 World Cup with full confidence, after a string of middling performances in England's contests to date against New Zealand and India.
Dunkley, who is also a team-mate of Wyatt-Hodge's at Surrey, has reached double-figures in six of her seven innings for club and country this summer without yet going past 31, including 10 from 14 balls against India at Bristol on Saturday, in which her only boundary was a straight six off Arundhati Reddy.
However, with Wyatt-Hodge away on maternity leave for England's first four T20Is against New Zealand and India, Alice Capsey seized her own chance at the top of the order with a matchwinning knock of 74 not out from 51 balls at Derby. With England's captain Nat Sciver-Brunt still hopeful of returning to the middle-order after a calf injury, the onus may be on Dunkley to reassert her claim as a first-choice pick.
"I've opened the batting with Sophia Dunkley for a number of years now, and we all know how good Sophia is," Wyatt-Hodge told journalists on the eve of the series decider in Taunton.
"Taking the game on from ball one, that's what she does at her best. It's not an easy thing to do, especially when the ball's swinging a lot and moving off the pitch. But Dunks has been so successful at the top, and we've put some good partnerships on together, and I'm really looking forward to getting out there with her tomorrow, and then obviously in the World Cup as well."
Dunkley endured a difficult time during England's last ICC campaign, the 2025 50-over World Cup, in which she made 68 runs in six innings on India's spin-friendly surfaces, and she did not bat in her only appearance, against Scotland, at the previous T20 World Cup in the UAE two years ago. However, Wyatt-Hodge said that she expected "fireworks" from her partner as England bid for a morale-boosting win in their series decider against India.
"I said to her the other day, her intent has been unbelievable," Wyatt-Hodge said. "You fail more times than not, opening the batting in T20 cricket, that's just the nature of the game. But she's thrown herself out there to be brave from ball one, and that's a credit to her.
"I'm so proud of her, and she looks really good, and I think a big score is just around the corner. Hopefully here at Taunton, it's normally quite a nice batting track. So, yeah, I'm expecting fireworks from Sophia tomorrow night. That would be great for her.
"She's been so successful in this format for England over the last few years, and walking out with her is an amazing feeling. We have a good laugh out there, and hopefully there's a few more smiles tomorrow."
Wyatt-Hodge has had plenty to smile about herself, following the arrival of her daughter, Daisy, 12 days ago, and the "unbelievable" first few days of parenthood that followed.
"People can tell you things, but until you're in it, you don't really get it," she said. "It's just incredible. Those first few nights at home were something I've obviously never experienced before, but wow, she's just beautiful. And Georgie, my wife, is doing very well as well. So I'm very proud of my girls. We've got a new supporter in Daisy, she can't wait to come watch us."
Now that she's back with the England squad, however, she says she's focused on getting her head back down in the "cricket bubble".
"I've not been around the group for that long, but there feels like a very good vibe around the group," she said, "a nice calm composed vibe. Everyone's enjoying each other's company. We've got a few more games before the first game of the World Cup, and everyone's chomping at the bit to get out there whenever we get the opportunity.
England's first match is looming against Sri Lanka on June 12, and Wyatt-Hodge admitted that the tournament chat was getting increasingly hard to avoid.
"Everyone's really excited, you know. Everyone's talking about the first game coming up, even all the fans, whenever we walk outside and go for coffee, people are saying 'not long now to the first World Cup game'. I think it's really important that we do stay present, but obviously you know it's only natural that we're really excited for that first game on the 12th at Edgbaston."
England have a proud record in home World Cups, with victories in each of the four events that they have hosted - three ODI titles in 1973, 1993 and 2017, and the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2009. As a veteran of the 2017 campaign, however, Wyatt-Hodge hopes to bring that experience to bear on the squad.
"You know there's probably going to be a bit more pressure on us. It's a home World Cup, but think we just need to really enjoy the opportunity. They don't come around very often, so for me anyway, I'm just going to really enjoy the opportunity, and when I'm on it, I'm on it.
"I'm hungry to score runs and contribute for my country, and I know that everyone else in my team will be the same, and we'll just take it each game as it comes.
"That's what we did in the 2017 World Cup. We had an eye on that final at Lord's, but we just really focused and planned for each game as it comes, and we played the match, and then parked it, and focused for the next match. We'll go to training, look at what the opposition's going to be like, what we're going to come up against, go out there, try and win that, and then move on to the next game. I think that's what we'll be doing."